Gameplay
Overview Classmancers is the fictional MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game played in the novel, similar to the likes of League of Legends and DoTA. The game is played from a 3rd person perspective, which makes Smite the closest real life MOBA example for the game. Like other MOBAs, Classmancers is a game between two teams of five players. The map is divided into three lanes and the objective is to push allied forces along a lane all the way into enemy base, to destroy the Colossus residing there. The above is a general illustration of a MOBA map. Like every MOBA, Classmancers puts its own twist on the map structure and features objectives. MOBA games are known for featuring a large cast of playable characters, usually "champions" or "heroes". The same holds for Classmancers, except the playable characters are named after familiar RPG classes: Warrior, Archer, Rogue, Wizard and many others. Lane Structures The map is split into three lanes and minions spawn on each lane to push it forward. Without player interference, the minion waves on all lanes will meet exactly at the lane's center and wipe each other out. Each lane has two main defense structures: # Turret: The first line of defense. It doesn't move and doesn't recover HP over time, but fires undodgeable bolts which deal heavy damage. It can only be damaged by basic attacks. # Golem: A boss creature with multiple types of attacks, some dodgeable and some not. Defeating it spawns super minions on the lane for a while, allowing the enemy team push the lane much harder. It recovers HP over time and respawns. It can only be damaged by basic attacks, but hitting the small crystal on its forehead will temporarily make it vulnerable to all sources of damage. In order to harm a lane's Golem, the Turret on that lane must be taken down first. After both Turret and Golem are taken down, the enemy Colossus becomes vulnerable and can be attacked. In addition, the less Golems are alive, the weaker the Colossus becomes. Jungle Camps There are neutral jungle camps across the jungle which can be farmed by both teams. The above map only shows the locations of the camps on blue team's side, but the same exact camps are mirrored for red team's side as well, save for Griffin, Dragon and Overlord. * Hyena: Only gives exp and gold. * Wolf: Gives more exp and gold, but also tougher than the Hyena Camp. * Griffin: Even more exp and gold than Wolf Camp, but griffins are even tougher than wolves. In addition, their camps are on neither team's side of the map, so they're often contested. * Ogre: Drops a red sword buff which grants percentage power. * Wraith: Drops a blue staff buff which provides MP5 and cooldown reduction. * Dragon: High exp and gold for the entire team. A highly contested objective which requires the cooperation of multiple teammates to take down during early/mid game. * Overlord: The strongest jungle monster and can only be defeated in mid/late game. On top of providing high exp and gold for the entire team, it also gives the whole team a powerful all-around buff which can single-handedly decide the game. Dead teammates don't receive the buff, but they're instantly revived.